Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28376873›Full record

SynthesisBMC musculoskeletal disorders2017

Prevalence of low back pain in emergency settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Jordan Edwards, Jill Hayden, Mark Asbridge, Bruce Gregoire, Kirk Magee

Registry-linked trialOpen access · goldAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06395428 (Haloperidol for Pain Control in Patients With Acute Musculoskeletal Back Pain in the Emergency Department), which is not on this map. Cited by 86 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
86citing papers in PubMed, 8 pooled it
10.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT06395428 phase4recruitingnot on this mapstarted 2024, after this paper: background citation

Haloperidol for Pain Control in Patients With Acute Musculoskeletal Back Pain in the Emergency Department

TypeinterventionalSponsorWestern Michigan University School of MedicineRan2024 to 2027Enrolled75ConditionsBack Pain, Chronic PainArmsHaloperidol, Ketorolac Tromethamine
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

86 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 181 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Impact of education in patients undergoing physiotherapy for lower back pain: a level I systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society · 2025
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26 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Jordan EdwardsDepartment of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada. jr860374@dal.ca.ORCID 0000-0002-1420-3795
Jill HaydenDepartment of Community Health and Epidemiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Mark AsbridgeDepartment of Community Health and Epidemiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Bruce GregoireDepartment of Community Health and Epidemiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Kirk MageeDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Charles V. Keating Emergency and Trauma Centre, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Dalhousie University · CAWestern University · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundLow back pain may be having a significant impact on emergency departments around the world. Research suggests low back pain is one of the leading causes of emergency department visits. However, in the peer-reviewed literature, there has been limited focus on the prevalence and management of back pain in the emergency department setting. The aim of the systematic review was to synthesize evidence about the prevalence of low back pain in emergency settings and explore the impact of study characteristics including type of emergency setting and how the study defined low back pain.

methodsStudies were identified from PubMed and EMBASE, grey literature search, and other sources. We selected studies that presented prevalence data for adults presenting to an emergency setting with low back pain. Critical appraisal was conducted using a modified tool developed to assess prevalence studies. Meta-analyses and a meta-regression explored the influence of study-level characteristics on prevalence.

resultsWe screened 1187 citations and included 21 studies, reported between 2000 and 2016 presenting prevalence data from 12 countries. The pooled prevalence estimate from studies of standard emergency settings was 4.39% (95% CI: 3.67-5.18). Prevalence estimates of the included studies ranged from 0.9% to 17.1% and varied with study definition of low back pain and the type of emergency setting. The overall quality of the evidence was judged to be moderate as there was limited generalizability and high heterogeneity in the results.

conclusionThis is the first systematic review to examine the prevalence of low back pain in emergency settings. Our results indicate that low back pain is consistently a top presenting complaint and that the prevalence of low back pain varies with definition of low back pain and emergency setting. Clinicians and policy decisions makers should be aware of the potential impact of low back pain in their emergency settings.

Indexed as

Emergency Service, HospitalHumansLow Back PainPrevalence

Identifiers

PMID28376873
PMCPMC5379602
OpenAlexW2604317066

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.